Monthly Archives: October 2018

I have been working in the wine industry for over 15 years and one of the first winemakers I met was Kathy Joseph of Fiddlehead Cellars in Sta Rita Hills. Kathy has been an energetic, passionate, driven personality in wine and has always inspired me. I had the privilege to celebrate her 30th anniversary with her and many others when she hosted Fiddlestix 2.0 earlier this summer. There she opened multiple vintages of her wines, including a bottle of her very first wine from 1989. I wrote about it in my column in the Napa Valley Register and share it with you here.

The 2018 harvest marks the 30th anniversary of Fiddlehead Cellars, a winery in Santa Ynez Valley owned by winemaker and head fiddle, Kathy Joseph. Thirty years is a significant marker in the California wine industry, especially for Santa Barbara County, where post-Prohibition commercial plantings date only to 1960.

It is also noteworthy that 30 years ago, “There were very few women who owned wineries, very few women winemakers,” Joseph said. In addition, “There were very few people making high-end quality Pinot Noir or Sauvignon Blanc and very few people interested in the viticultural frontiers of Santa Barbara County and the north Willamette Valley.”

Last week I was licking my lips after drinking Madeira, the nectar of the Gods, all week. Well, this week, I got to sip another Portuguese fortified wine, Moscatel de Setúbal and yet again, I am licking my lips. And that is why this lip-licking fortified wine made from at least 85 percent Muscat of Alexandria grapes is the Please The Palate pick of the week.

Portugal is famous for a variety of fortified wines. Madeira comes from the island of Madeira, Port comes from the Douro Valley and Setúbal comes from the Setúbal Peninsula located in the southwest of Portugal. Read More +

There are challenges to planting vines on the mountains but there are many advantages as well. My recent story in the Napa Valley Register, which you can read below, is about Cardinale Winery, who focuses on a single Cabernet Sauvignon that is a blend from four mountain vineyards. Each vineyard contributes different characteristics to make the elegant wine year after year.

When mountains were created millions of years ago, volcanic eruptions resulted in extrusive and intrusive lava soils. These mountains were less fertile, and it was realized long ago that food crops and orchards thrived off the fertile land of the flats.

But up on the angled slopes of the mountains, some winemakers found a perfect location for vineyards. The Napa Valley produces four percent of California’s wine, yet only five percent of Napa’s wine production comes from mountain fruit. One of these wineries is Cardinale.